The much-awaited report on the Data Protection Bill will finally be tabled in the upcoming winter session of Parliament after it was passed by a joint committee on Monday. Government sources said the report led to several rounds of meetings and a lot of deliberations. The winter session is scheduled to start from November 29.
Sources said the committee has proposed more than 200 amendments, of which 170 have been proposed by Lok Sabha MP Speaker PP Choudhary. The bill is now being called the Data Protection Bill instead of the Personal Data Protection Bill, as the data is personal as well as non-personal. It also includes issues of national security, sovereignty and integrity of the country.
The committee made an in-depth study of the proposed legislation which is likely to have global implications. Sources told CNN-News18 that 150 countries were waiting to see India Create your new data protection law.
Chowdhury told CNN-News18, “We are in the process of enacting a law that will have a global impact and will be of international standards. We have devoted a lot of time to the discussion and talk about each clause to everyone’s satisfaction. Is.”
Once the report is tabled in Parliament, it is likely to be approved by the cabinet before initiating discussions for it to become law.
Earlier, the committee was headed by Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who handed it over after Choudhary became the minister of state. Lekhi held over 100 hours of sittings on the bill, while Choudhary held 12 meetings of 40 hours each.
will there be a disagreement
While some opposition lawmakers considered submitting a dissent note, the report was largely unanimously accepted by the entire committee. Congress MPs Jairam Ramesh and Manish Tewari as well as TMC MPs Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien are mulling over the dissent. Sources said BJP MP Amar Patnaik had also raised objections but he is unlikely to go ahead with the dissent note given the changes in the bill.
Patnaik’s objection was that there was no provision in the Bill for state data protection authorities. In the absence of this, especially with the implementation of the Act, several State vs. Center issues are likely to come to the fore. Thus, the State Data Protection Authority will be crucial to protect the interests of the State and its stakeholders.
what are the objections
As per Clause 57, processing or transferring bills of personal data in contravention of the rules shall be 4 per cent of the company’s global business with a fine of Rs 15 crore, whichever is higher, and a fine of Rs 5 crore. 2 per cent of the annual turnover in case of minor defaults. This section faced objections from several members. Now, the committee has recommended that the government should be empowered to frame rules for fines that do not exceed the previous limit of Rs 15 crore or 2 per cent of turnover or Rs 5 crore or 4 per cent for minor violations.
Several MPs on the committee objected to Clause 35, according to which the central government and central law enforcing agencies are exempted from the Act and can collect data without permission to protect the security of the state, the sovereignty of the nation and friendly relations. can process. foreign nation.
Several members of the opposition, including Jairam Ramesh, objected to the clause, saying it would give exemption to the Center and its agencies, which would lead to cases of misuse. Thus, opposition lawmakers said that it is important that every time such approval is sought for any law enforcement agency, it will be important to record the reasons to be presented before Parliament.
The president and other members of the ruling BJP argued that in serious matters involving the safety and security of the nation and its sovereignty and integrity, it would not be possible or possible or appropriate to keep such sensitive information in the public domain. Parliament. Finally, the committee has recommended that the government would need to frame rules and procedures for the exercise of such power, the sources said.
Several MPs attended the meeting to adopt the report. Apart from Chaudhary, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Gaurav Gogoi, Amar Patnaik etc. were also present.
background
The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha as the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 by Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in December that year, was subject to parliamentary scrutiny at the insistence of members of the House.
In February 2020, the committee invited suggestions and views from the public as well as from experts, stakeholders and organizations. This feedback was compiled and shared with the IT Ministry. Mistry’s officials, stakeholders including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Nasscom, Truecaller, Ola, Uber and the Reserve Bank of India have also made representations before the committee.
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